BAUMAN RARE BOOKS 6 03PYNCHON, Thomas. Slow Learner. Boston and Toronto, 1984. Octavo, original white cloth, dust jacket. $23,500 First edition of Pynchon’s only collection of short stories, six works written early in his career, signed by him on the front free endpaper. Books signed by Pynchon are famously rare. The introduction to this collection, Pynchon’s only published autobiographical text, states that “these stories were written between 1958 and 1964. Four of them I wrote when I was in college-the fifth, “The Secret Integration” (1964), is more of a journeyman than an apprentice effort… It is only fair to warn even the most kindly disposed of readers that there are some mighty tiresome passages here, juvenile and delinquent too. At the same time, my best hope is that, pretentious, goofy and ill-considered as they get now and then, these stories will still be of use with all their flaws intact, as illustrative of typical problems in entry-level fiction, and cautionary about some practice which younger writers might wish to avoid.” Pynchon signed this book for Gail M. Sweeney, Pynchon’s friend and former housemate in both Manhattan Beach and Eureka, California between 1968-71, with whom he maintained a lengthy correspondence between early 1972-2006. Book with mild foxing to text block edges and cloth; bright dust jacket with very minor wear and slight toning to spine. An extremely good copy, most desirable signed by him. First Edition Of Slow Learner, Most Scarce Signed By Thomas Pynchon
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